The UC Marketing Capstone Experience

July 2017

July 31, 2017

Well time has flown by and its now time to present tomorrow.We had discussion with our client and briefed them about all that we had done and shared the presentation with Drew too. It feels good that the hard work has finally paid where every likes the work we have done. The Capstone project taught us a lot. Here are a few leaning points which I had from this project:

Be ready for challenges and roadblocks. The path is not going to be easy.

Reaching out to people (experts in the field) for advice and feedback. Well, given that this was a data analytics project we reached to data analytics expert like professors from our college, who gave us feedback and responded to any question we had. I believe this particularly helped us in the project and gave us the right direction. I would advice other people who take up Capstone in the future to keep this in mind and always reach out whenever in doubt.

Keep working and remain consistent. Research is very important I believe and the more you read you will more things and get ideas for your project and also if you are stuck somewhere then reading up on it will open new ways.

Distilling our final analysis into a detailed format in the final report enables us to cite the report when needed and drive the focus of our final presentation deck squarely on recommendations, rather than data & analysis. It feels great to be so close to wrapping this up and presenting to our client!

As far as advice goes:

1) Time goes fast. I think this is a Capstone theme that's been very thoroughly developed by others on this blog, so I'll simply say the reason for that is because it's true and it's critical.

2) Be more assertive than you feel comfortable with. You're busy. Your client is busy. Everybody you need to talk to is busy. So, they'll all have plenty of other things to focus and a variety of reasons to forget about you and your Capstone project if you let them. Don't let them.

However, being assertive also sharpens the requirement that you show up completely prepared, with thoroughly thought-out plans and rationale for what you're asking.

Remember, they're all busy and Capstone is not their top priority. Always have sharply focused requests, no matter what the request is or who you are asking. Ain't nobody got time to help you figure out what you're trying to ask or trying to do!

3) The project's scope or even its primary goal will probably change. It's natural for that to make you feel frustrated if you let it. So, go ahead and let yourself feel the frustration, express it to let it out, and then make a deliberate choice to let go of it and keep moving. If you focus on adapting and making smart pivots, you'll be OK no matter the size or frequency of changes you encounter.

Last, is a take-away that won't be much use in Capstone, but I think will be tremendously valuable as we carve out careers doing work similar to this.

Choose projects very carefully.Don't be afraid to turn away clients that seem unable or unwilling to commit the resources you need to do the job well.Before committing to a project, push really hard to understand the client is actually trying to accomplish with the project. Decide whether the key deliverable the client is actually looking for is a good fit with your specific strengths. And, crucially, determine whether the client will work with your assessment of what they are actually trying to accomplish, and is as committed to an excellent project as you are. If not, neither of you will get the kind of experience or outcome that really builds your brand. You will ultimately waste each other's time to some extent or another, which is the most valuable resource any of us has. The world moves too fast, competition is too fierce, and life is too short, to afford that.

I believe when giving advice you should never give to much. You should give the guidelines but then it is up to the individual on what they want to make of the information because in reality as a parent/teacher/coach/mentor you can tell people a million different things but it all comes down to that other person's attitude on what they want to make of the situation. So for me that's my advice. You can either decided your going to kick ass on this project or not. Believe in yourself that you are going to get it done and stick to your guidelines. Roll with the punches because that's your journey. Good Luck and remember enjoy that process because the end route to anything is just the end and the process is what makes you, you!

First of all, I would summarize this week's work. This week, our team have done a lot of work for our project. We finalized our client's video, sent emails to potential clients, finalized our website, and the presentation. Tomorrow morning at 9:30,we will present our work to our client. We hope our client would satisfied with our work. Definitely we do our best! The report is still on the way due to some editing work.

Secondly, I would like give some advice to future Marketing Lucky Students. You will feel so lucky to have Drew Boyd, our director in your whole journey in Marketing study. He is always there to help you out! Also, I want to tell you that the Capstone will definitely change you a lot in many ways: your thinking, your behavior, the way you speak, the way you do things. When I talk to my friends, they admired at me because I could have a "Class" to learn how to get in touch with real clients in real world. It is something that you can not learn from classroom study, it is a real world learning in your life that you will not forget. It is also something that you transfer from what you have learned in class to what you could provide in real project.

Last but not least, I would give you three advice.

Contact your Client more frequently than you need. I would suggest that you and your team should call and meet your client many times during the process of the project. You need to know what your client think and what they want to change in any time so that you could have an updated information from your client. You never want to miss out.

Work Closely with your teammate, it doesn't matter whoever you work with, you should trust them all the time. If you are an international student, do not be afraid to discuss and give an advice to your client and teammate. You are an important element in your team as well. Do not step out from your teammate, they love to work with you! If you are domestic student working with international student, I believe that you could work with them well, sometimes if they do not discuss with the team is because they need time to think about things, give them enough time, they would surprise you! Be a little bit patient to listen to what their ideas are.

Work Hard but in an efficient way. Know what you need to do whatever step you are standing. Write down things that are valuable to your project, not everything. You need to think the overall situation, not just a small part. Do and Choose the best way to your client.

You will be surprised when you finished your project! You are smarter than you think!!!! Believed in yourself!

July 30, 2017

On Being Single – Advice for Myself at the Beginning of The Capstone Experience

No, I am not here to give you relationship advice – at least not in the romantic sense. Instead, as I look back on my capstone journey I reflect on the opportunity for personal growth that I chose to take out of the experience.

My advice? Before you begin your project, step back and assess the resources you have available. No, I don’t mean the number of Post-its you own (although I do love Post-its). Instead, take a moment from the rush of the day. Sit down and take time to assess yourself and your network:

What are your current strengths? On which tasks do you have to work harder than others? Are there any skills you know you want to refine? What are your biggest fears? What patterns have you demonstrated in previous projects that you want to kill or embrace? What about the task at hand looks the most challenging?

You, just like any other business asset have limits and strengths. Why not be honest with yourself and embrace what you bring to the table with self-transparency? Embrace the nuances that make you, you. Forgive yourself when it is something you anticipate struggling with. Instead, embrace you own quirks. Then, pull in a self-built team of individuals and resources to fill in those voids. Doing so will allow you to move forward strategically.

Next, whether you are or are not on a team, take a moment to assess what people you know bring to the table. How can you find outside resources to fill in the gaps between where you are and where you need to be to get the job done? Your team does not have to just be your peers. If you work independently, it is important to build out a purposeful team along the way. Your team members already include Professor Boyd and your peers. However, you can build it out with industry experts, future mentorships, or other researchers.

As the Capstone experience closes, I am thinking forward towards future projects. For the next one, I will start with a mind map featuring myself at the core surrounded by individuals and topics of study – a glance at the expanded knowledge network that goes far beyond what one individual can provide. Taking the time to build this visual will remind myself how to strategically plan when to step away from my own rumination and gain a new perspective. If you are hard on yourself like I am, planning how to be the best, single individual and strategically ask for help will be a great skill, and one I look forward to continuing to build beyond this project.

Like many of my classmates have noted, there are some words of advice to help you through Capstone. However, make no mistake, it will push you, make life hard for the time being, and become so overwhelming at times, you will wonder if it will ever end. Anyways, here is my advice to you to hopefully make your journey a little easier:

Time

You only have so much time for Capstone. For my partner and I, the 13 weeks of the summer semester was really about 8 once we got start after the initial client meeting. Do everything you can to remain ahead of the schedule you set in the charter. Be prepared to not follow it exactly, because it's really just a road-map to guide your project. Make sure to always use your time wisely. This includes meetings and work sessions. Know yourself and the ways you can be the most productive. One way to be in full alignment with your partner and client is to meet frequently. My preference would be at least weekly with your client, and two times with your partner. As you get busier, meeting more than twice a week with you partner would be very wise.

Client Understanding/Relationship

Just as Drew will instruct you in the very first class about addressing difficult client situations and establishing the need to have clear conversations, be sure to actually do that! Clients can make or break the experience. While it was difficult, sometimes you still have to remember that they're investing their time and money in you, so they expect results. Be open to listening to what they have to stay, but try to still wear your 'consultant' hat. They may not necessarily like or agree with what you say or suggest, but as a consultant, you owe them your objective opinion. I didn't say honest because your opinions must still be rooted in strategy and research. As long as you have that, you can feel justified in your recommendations for your client.

Confidence

This is probably the biggest part of Capstone I struggled with. Although you don't know everything, you've learned so much through the MS curriculum. Be confident in the work you're doing, because you've done it all before in one way or another. You must rely back on your knowledge to succeed. Especially marketing strategy! Own the work you're doing and don't be afraid show that you know what you're talking about (of course in a non-cocky way). I am still to this day trying to work on that, especially with our final presentation coming up Wednesday. Clients can be intimidating in some ways, but it still holds true they need help, or else it wouldn't be a Capstone project.

Positivity

Although much of Capstone is ever evolving, something you can do throughout that remains constant is to keep a positive mind. Psyching yourself out too much will only cause more stress. Keep the light at the end of the tunnel in the back of your mind, always. Remember that you cannot foresee everything that might occur or accomplish it all! Stay in scope and you will be successful, as long you put in the work!

I wanted to take one final moment to thank my partner for everything!! Without her, I don't know if we would have been made it through. Good luck! It will come and go before you know it.

I had anticipated from reading prior students' blog posts at the beginning of the semester that this experience would be something of a whirlwind - and let's just say I was not let down. I had a rare opportunity this summer to devote my full attention to Capstone, without working or taking other classes, and somehow all of my time still didn't feel like enough. Probably one of the biggest challenges in Capstone is dealing with doubt. The intentional ambiguity surrounding this particular course will inevitably lead you to doubt yourself, your abilities, and your likelihood to succeed. I wish I could tell you that those feelings have subsided for me as I enter the last week of the project, but that wouldn't be entirely true. What I can offer are some pieces of advice, which are as follows:

Write everything down: My partner and I kept very detailed notes during each meeting we had with our client and actually typed them into a shared document to use as a reference tool. This was an invaluable resource for us as time progressed and we found ourselves struggling with particular elements of the research and strategy.

Don't wait around: One of the biggest mistakes you can make in the Capstone project is to wait for anything to happen. For instance, waiting on a particular action by your client to move on to the next step of your project can result in lost time that you simply don't have to spare. For us, this meant arranging our own research interviews with non-clients so that we didn't have to wait until the last few weeks of the project to gather useful market insights. In other words, when there are parts of the project that fall outside your control, get control back by making inroads where you can.

Stick to a schedule: My classmates who have worked with a partner on the Capstone project will all probably say the same thing: meet regularly! A minimum of two meetings per week kept my partner and I on the same page and jointly accountable to the project timeline. We also had weekly check-in meetings with our client - my advice here would be to choose a frequency that works for you. In some cases I felt the weekly check-in may have interfered with the progress of certain activities by adding new ones and forcing us to reprioritize, but there is no doubt that keeping your client informed is key to the success of the project.

Learn when and how to say 'no': Remember that your client has not read the field book and may not fully understand the structure or nature of the project from that perspective. Most importantly, they probably don't completely realize the amount of work you are doing behind the scenes. For that reason, you may find yourself fielding unrelated and "out of scope" requests for deliverables that you'll need to manage in addition to the course requirements. Learning how to keep your client happy without allowing them to treat you like an intern can be a tricky situation. Drew can be of help to you in this area, too.

Breathe!: Some of the best clarity and confidence I found in working on this project was when I decided to take a step back - or a night off - and decide not to be so hard on myself. You may feel like you want to give up a hundred times during your Capstone project, but keeping your anxiety in check and your feet moving can go a long way.

Get Help: My last piece of advice would be to ask for help when you need it - and ask sooner rather than later. Chances are, the issue you're having isn't a new one, and calling Drew or meeting with him to get feedback on your project (outside of the project reviews) can be life-saving.

In giving advice to future students in Capstone, everyone always says time. At this point that's a given. You will wish you had more time, and you will get to the end and be scrambling to finish everything and feel confident about it. Everyone will tell you this, and if they say time wasn't an issue, they're lying.

I would like to focus on different aspects, things that I don't think you'll hear, or hear enough.

You will think you have an idea going into your project what you're going to need to do. Chances are this will change on a regular basis. It means you'll feel like you've wasted time at certain points, and this will get frustrating. Learn to roll with it.

Find a Subject Matter Expert or two along the way. You will likely have odd, nit-picky questions as your project progresses, and having an SME helps answer those. If this is their field, they are likely passionate about it and will want to be helpful.

Make your presentation look professional and visually appealing. It doesn't need to be flashy, but it should reflect the effort you put into the project as a whole.

Ask Drew and Dianne questions when you have them. They're here to help. Getting answers from both of them will be invaluable, as they see different aspects of the problem and see different solutions. If you have issues with fixedness, talking to both of them will guarantee getting past that.

Don't second guess yourself, and don't underestimate your brilliance.

That last bit has been the biggest challenge for me. As you future students aren't likely to have Drew himself as your client, this may be less of a challenge for you.

My partner and I finished our client presentation and turned in our final report, all in the same day. It felt, exhilarating and climatic. Its hard to believe that our capstone course is finally complete. We had wonderful clients that we hope we keep in touch with or even work with in the future. Ive figured out three key things a student consultant must do in order to have the most successful capstone project possible:

Follow that fieldbook. The one thing we forgot to do on a regular basis is check the fieldbook -- something that we continued to refer to as we were formulating our report and presentation those last 2 weeks. If we had refer to it weekly thoroughout the project, we would have saved ourselves a lot of panic attacks!

Choose your partner wisely! If you have the option to select a partner -- do so wisely. I had worked with my capstone partner in the past and was a friend of mine. It ended up working out wonderfully. Seeing someone 2-3 times a week makes it a lot more enjoyable when you actually like the person.

Try to meet with your client regularly. My partner and I asked to meet with our clients (usually virtually) every week. We caught them up on all our research and progress every week. THis made our final presentation really comfortable and conversational. They knew they work that we had done throughout the past three months and our final report was a culmination of that.

As for things you don't have in your control -- client wise that is, may I urge you to keep the lines of communications open and flowing. It pays off in dividends in the end.

July 29, 2017

This week our team will be submitting the final presentation to our client. Overall the project has taught me too much about how a licensing industry works. With the collaboration, me and my team member also have learnt a lot from each other. We could also see how a project can get diversified to so many field while analyzing factors, thus it was so important to set boundaries correctly at the very start of the project. I realize how important the Charter wasThis week our team will be submitting the final presentation to our client. Overall the project has taught me too much about how a licensing industry works. With the collaboration, me and my team member also have learnt a lot from each other. We could also see how a project can get diversified to so many field while analyzing factors, thus it was so important to set boundaries correctly at the very start of the project. I realize how important the Charter was

1) Always keep looking at where you want your project to go. WE read so many research reports that it was easier to get bogged down with the amount and no. of high tech research done. We read their work, set it aside and determined how we want to develop our project. So always keep a track on where your project is going.

2) Set aside a time to work on your project daily. This way you would always be on schedule.

3) Involve the client as much as you can. Just like we had taken their feedbacks and suggestions on our questionnaire as well.